Bringing Integrity to the Written Word

BLISS IN THE CITY
I awoke this morning in a good mood. It was payday, a friend was coming to visit and would be waiting for me when I got home, the weather was nice and my coffee tasted exceptionally good. I whistled and sang as I taped a set of keys to my apartment to the back of the gas meter out front for my friend, then marched my way down 17th to the train station.
I was listening to Billy Joel on my iPod and watching the sun rise in a beautiful sea of pink and red sky, amazed at how, yet again, my life could change so drastically. I remembered my days in Corporate America, and all the jobs I’d had that I hated going to. I remembered very clearly that bad feeling I used to get in the pit of my stomach every Sunday evening, knowing I had to return to work the next day. I also remembered the euphoria of Friday afternoon, knowing I had two days to relax and spent time with Jess and my friends.
Today there was no dread, only peace. I loved my job, I loved my life, and Billy Joel’s “Everybody has a Dream” reminded me that I was living mine.
I saw the Ice King on the platform at the Broadway station, not where he usually boarded. He saw me through the window and smiled and waved, then got on the train and sat on the seat in front of me. He chatted with me for a few minutes, and at the next stop the Italian got on, taking the seat directly behind the Ice King, facing me. I can’t figure the Italian out. As long as I’m not looking at him, he stares at me. When I make eye contact he’ll continue looking at me for a second, and give me a little smile, but then he looks away nervously. So I’m chatting with the Ice King, being stared at by the Italian, and somebody on the train was wearing a very nice smelling cologne.
A spontaneous moment of euphoria came over me, and I couldn’t help but smile and giggle a little to myself. All those years I dreamed of doing something different, something extraordinary, and here I was, in a strange place, with strange people, master of my little universe…